The Salt and Iron Debate can actually be regarded as a dispute between Confucianism and Legalism. It can be said to be a debate that decided the fate of the Han Dynasty.
It all started because Emperor Wu Liu Che arranged for several ministers to take care of his life for his youngest son Liu Fuling before his death.
That is to say, Grand Sima, Grand General Huo Guang, Sang Hongyang, Jin Rixi, and Shangguan Jie jointly assisted the young master.
There are fundamental differences between Huo Guang and Sang Hongyang.
Huo Guang advocated the "policy of caring for the people" by recommending virtuous people, asking about people's sentiments, and exempting land from rent. This was a continuation of the policy in the last years of Emperor Wu, and its meaning was consistent with Confucianism that flaunted the rule of virtue;
Sang Hongyang insisted on reopening farmland and strengthening national power. The so-called "rich country and strong army" was completely the approach of Emperor Wu in the middle period, which prioritized strengthening national power and was in line with the political thought of Legalism.
Neither of these two parties can overwhelm the other.
At the same time, when Emperor Wu died, Sang Hongyang's financial management policy was not abolished. The Han government almost completely controlled production, sales and the market. The landlords, bureaucrats, nobles and merchants had reached the limit of their patience.
You must know that the status of those merchants in the Han Dynasty was very high. Just like Zhuo Wenjun's father, Zhuo Wangsun, controlled half of the world's iron smelting industry. He had thousands of servants and tens of thousands of employees. His strength It should not be underestimated, and there are many such wealthy businessmen in the world.
In addition, the real aristocratic families in various places, although all of them are inconspicuous, are really not comparable to those wealthy businessmen in terms of strength.
These people have reached the end of their patience. If it hadn't been for Emperor Wu's previous edict to calm the world's hearts, the incident at the end of Qin would have happened again.
But although these people did not rebel, they pushed Huo Guang to open the salt and iron discussion.
They are not Confucians, and even they are opposed to the Confucian emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business, but they are opposed to the government-run ones, because the government-run businesses only focus on output, with poor quality, high prices, and the farm tools they produce are too large to be suitable for use; at the same time, there are also inaccuracies Problems such as accurate selection, inconvenient purchasing, forced buying and selling, and forcing farmers to serve.
At the same time, the implementation of the equal transfer method and the peaceful push method also aggravated the corruption of officialdom. There were even collusion between officials and businessmen and hoarding of goods. These things made the world restless.
At the same time, Huo Guang, the most powerful general in the world, had already eliminated Shangguan Jie and his son, one of the several ministers appointed by Liu Che to take care of life. At the same time, he had also eliminated the eldest princess who could restrain him, and who wanted to compete for the throne. Liu Dan, King of Yan.
As for Jin Rixi, the prince of the Southern Huns, because he was a foreigner and lacked political strength, he always maintained a humble and forbearing style of behavior. In the end, he became Huo Guang's son-in-law and could not pose any threat to him.
So the powerful Huo Guang turned his eyes to his only enemy Sang Hongyang.
This debate lasted from February to July of the sixth year of the First Yuan Dynasty, a total of five months.
The focus of debate between the two sides ranges from economic policy, foreign policy, and governance concepts to the dispute between justice and interests.
In the end, it seemed that both sides took a step back. The official camp was not abolished, but the county wine officials and the Guan Nei Iron Officials were dismissed. It seemed like nothing, but Sang Hongyang completely lost the fight with Huo Guang after this debate. Opportunity.
Sang Hongyang was forced to argue with those white men, which directly lowered his authority, which caused him to completely lose the support of the junior officials below.
Huo Guang, on the other hand, became the real controller of the Han Dynasty with great satisfaction.
He planned to give those virtuous writers a small official position so that everyone in the world would know Huo Guang's authority.
Just as he was preparing, a voice came from behind him, "Huo Guang, where is the old minister Tuogu that I arranged? Where is your in-law Shangguan Jie? Where is he?"
The sound almost scared Huo Guang to death. He recognized that it was the late emperor's voice, and then he immediately turned around. He turned too fast and fell to the ground.
Liu Che looked at Huo Guang with cold eyes. If Huo Guang had not done anything evil at this time, he would have wanted to get rid of Huo Guang, because this guy will dethrone the emperor in the future.
That's not what a minister should do. If he had followed him, Huo Guang would have become a Yi tribe by now, but I wouldn't allow it because of the traditions of the Han Dynasty.
Huo Guang trembled all over as he talked about Shangguan Jie's rebellion and his capture of the Yi tribe.
"Isn't that Shangguan An's misconduct? Who gave you the qualifications to have the courage to kill the queen's family?"
Liu Che looked at Huo Guang. He had read the Book of Han. In the Book of Han, Shangguan Jie’s rebellion was originally a bad debt. In the "Book of Han: Biography of Huo Guang", Shangguan Jie rebelled, but in the "Book of Han: Biography of Wife's Wife" "In "", everything has become Shangguan An's own behavior and has nothing to do with Shangguan Jie.
Judging from the political sensitivity of Emperor Liu Han, this is what Huo Guang did in order to take over the power. And now Sang Hongyang is completely forced by Huo Guang to argue with those white men and lose his face. This is They are forcing Sang Hongyang to die.
Huo Guang did a lot of things to monopolize power, which made Liu Che extremely dissatisfied with him, but he couldn't move against Huo Guang because Liu Heng wouldn't let him. He thought that Huo Guang still had merit, and he couldn't be killed at this time. .
That's why Liu Che didn't take out his sword and looked at Huo Guang. He just looked at Huo Guang coldly for a while and then went to find his son. Huo Guang's matter should be dealt with according to tradition.
Everything went smoothly after that. After Liu Fulin saw his father, he cried bitterly and hugged Liu Che's lap. Jin Rixi also immediately joined forces with Sang Hongyang to write to Emperor Wu, saying that Huo Guang They killed Shangguan Jie, King Liu Dan of Yan, and Princess Eyi.
Then Liu Fulin also stated that this matter was true, and then Liu Heng asked Huo Guang to be called. They, the former emperors of the Han Dynasty, first showed their identities in front of everyone, and then Liu Heng put the plate of horseshoe gold on When it was in Huo Guang's hands, he told him that the man thanked him for everything he had done, but now some people say that Huo Guang killed Shangguan Jie, King Yan and Princess Gaichang. He needs to go to the court to explain this matter, and the emperor also agrees.
Huo Guang's face changed as soon as he said this. He didn't want to insult the general. This was asking him to commit suicide.
Not humiliating each other is a Han tradition proposed by Jia Yi that everyone from the emperor down to generals and princes abide by. It means that for princes with more than 2,000 shi, as long as they do not commit treason and other treasonous crimes, they can be given A decent ending for the general is to die without bloodshed.
When a person is convicted of a crime, regardless of whether he is wronged or not, it is customary to commit suicide.
Even if you don't commit suicide, you will be despised and lose your dignity and integrity as a public minister. At the same time, Gonghou Jiang, who felt that he had lost his dignity and "face", collectively forced him to commit suicide.
During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Bo Zhao, the cavalry general, was the first duke-general and general to enjoy the treatment of "generals and prime ministers do not humiliate each other".
And now Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty said that someone had accused him and asked Huo Guang to go to jail. That means you should die. If you don't die, someone will help you.
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